Washington | US President
Barack Obama
is travelling to the Middle East amid heightened tension over the suggestion that the Syrian regime of
Bashar Al-Assad
has used chemical weapons against rebel soldiers.

But
Mike Rogers
and
Dianne Feinstein
, the Republican and Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees, both told CNN that there was a “high probability" the Assad regime had used the weapons.

All are acutely aware of the need for convincing evidence of such an allegation, particularly at a time when the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq – which became a decade-long war of attrition – has refocused attention on the reasons given for starting that conflict.

The administration of
George W Bush
justified the Iraq war using false evidence that former Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein
had weapons of mass destruction.

Even so, if the charge against the Syrian regime is proved, Mr Obama will likely come under pressure to consider leading a war-weary nation into a military campaign to eliminate Mr Assad’s regime and his weapons.

The regime, which has waged a brutal war against rebel forces that has seen an estimated 70,000 people killed, is believed to possess some of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical weapons, stored at at least a dozen sites around the country.

Mr Obama reiterated through White House spokesman
Jay Carney
that the Syrian leader would face unspecified consequences if he were indeed found to have used chemical weapons on his people.

Mr Rogers emphasised on CNN that “we need to make sure that this was chemical weapons usage".

But based on everything his committee had learnt over the past year and a half, he said, “I have come to the conclusion that [chemical weapons] are either positioned for use and ready to do that, or, in fact, have been used."

Mr Rogers, who has urged Mr Obama to intervene more forcefully in Syria, said the US had “very small, special capabilities" that could be used to disable chemical weapons .

“If it takes a limited military strike to do that, I think we are morally obligated to do that if, in fact, they have crossed the President’s ‘red line’ of chemical weapons use," he said.

Senator Feinstein told CNN she agreed it “may well take some action" but it was up to the White House to respond decisively.

“We’ve heard this in a classified session," Senator Feinstein told the network. “This is highly classified information, and we’ve been advised to be very careful what we say.

“The White House has to make some decisions in this."

Meanwhile, the top US military commander in Europe said some NATO countries were working on contingency plans for possible military action to end the Syrian civil war.

“The Syrian situation continues to become worse and worse and worse,"
James Stavridis
, the commander of US European Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “No end in sight to a vicious civil war."

Admiral Stavridis, who is retiring soon, said a number of NATO nations were looking at a military options to break the deadlock and help the rebel forces.

Options include using aircraft to impose a no-fly zone, as NATO did in Libya in 2011, offering military assistance to the rebels and enforcing arms embargoes.

A resolution from the UN Security Council and agreement among the alliance’s 28 members would be necessary for any NATO military role in Syria, he said.

“We are prepared if called upon to be engaged as we were in Libya," he said.